Judge Dredd Case Files: When To Stop

[Ignatzmonster]

Just got through reading JDCF 14 and loved it. Couldn't have loved it more. The great thing about Dredd stories is they always live up to the hype and Necropolis was no exception. Amazing colour work by Ezquerra and considering I'd never heard of him that Jeff Anderson is a hell of a find. No other comic collections have given me the sense of joy as these have for the last four years.

That said I know the unadulterated Wagner stretch is about to fizzle out and I'm getting worried. I'm not one of those people who hates other writer's Dredds but I have heard on this forum, for instance, that no Dredd is better than Millar's Dredd. At what point should I begin being more cautious about ordering the case files?

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Throw caution to the wind and just keep buying.

[Noisybast]

Why not just keep getting them until you hit a point where it's not enjoyable any more?

[locustsofdeath!]

I wish these were in hardback...or at least on Amazon they seem to be sc...

Anyone have a suggestion for a nice hb Dredd coffee table book, or something that would like beautiful on the bookshelf?

Sorry if a bit off topic.

[SmallBlueThing]

Thing is, conventional wisdom would have it that post-Necropolis, the strip began to suffer, along with the whole comic, and people began to leave in droves. I know this is certainly true of a few of my friends- who remain lapsed Squaxx to this day, despite my efforts every xmas, when I buy them the end-of-year-Prog and the Xmas Meg (and have done for years).

However, if there was a period of appalling Dredd, I don't remember it as going on for too long- and while a few months may be longer than the casual reader could stand in weekly real time, in the Case Files, it'll be over in one read. I think the next Case File may finally lay to rest some of that "conventional wisdom" and put a lot in perspective.

So I'd carry on, if I were you. Besides, if it's REALLY bad, then that's almost as good as being really great, isn't it? It gives you the opportunity to come here to bitch and moan- which is always almost as much fun as whooping and hollering. My fear is that the run of stories post-Nec will be revealed to be merely... okay. Great comics I love, utterly appalling comics I happily accept. Average comics just piss me off.

SBT

[radiator]

I would just keep buying. There's a long stretch of Ennis Dredd coming up (which is patchy, but also has some great stories) then a shorter run by other writers which is the worst stuff - however there isn't a massive amount of this, and as the Case Files are going to include all the stuff from the Megazine (a lot of which is Wagner material), I think the quality will average out. If any volume ends up being a stinker I'm sure you'll get a warning from this board.

Anyone have a suggestion for a nice hb Dredd coffee table book, or something that would like beautiful on the bookshelf?

How about http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Best-of-22Judge-Dredd-22/dp/1853757187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258195419&sr=8-1

[Mike Gloady]

I'm with SBT on this.  The only Dredd that finally put me off the prog was when they started serialising Dredd/Aliens which I'd already read due to it being in my comic shop months previously.  A long slog of progs ahead with a story I'd already read was the last straw.

Millar isn't great in my opinion (I don't like anything he's done, I'm afraid) but Ennis does a fair stab.  And apparently the Meg stuff (which continued to be written by Wagner reasonably often) is said to be lined up to join some of the Prog stuff for the next one.

Don't stop until you want to.  Personally I can't see you stopping, there was ALWAYS something to stick to with Dredd.

[Mark Taylor]

I think most of the upcoming non-Wagner stuff was written by Garth Ennis. IIRC Ennis's Dredds were a mixed bunch ranging from "poor" to "good" with a lot of "okay" in the middle. There was nothing really up there with Wagner at his best but then again I don't recall any of it being trully appaling either. My advice would be to weather the storm and stick with it... I mean Necropolis ran in 1990 and I think Wagner was back by 1994 or thereabouts, writing great stuff like Wilderlands.

[Mark Taylor]

Millar isn't great in my opinion (I don't like anything he's done, I'm afraid)

I don't recall reading Millar's Dredd's, but if Red Razors is anything to go by I can believe they're pretty dire. Thankfully I don't think there were too many of them. No doubt when they come around in the case files I'll read them and decide for myself, trying not to let Red Razors influence me too much!

[Ignatzmonster]

If any volume ends up being a stinker I'm sure you'll get a warning from this board.

True, but international readers have to order far in advance of the screams of warning. Didn't know until too late that Eurocrash had a massive chunk of story missing.

Either way the consensus is keep going. Fair enough. I had a hard time imagining NOT ordering tbh. Ennis isn't horrible and I bought the Heavy Metal Dredd collection and didn't have a fit. Well, not a big fit. Much obliged my fellow Thargian Cultists.

[Mark Taylor]

True, but international readers have to order far in advance of the screams of warning. Didn't know until too late that Eurocrash had a massive chunk of story missing.

It did? What was missing? I read it cover to cover quite recently and don't recall noticing.

[Mike Gloady]

Eurocrash was a shame, but maybe we'll get a Downlode Tales TPB at some stage with some of the excised Sin/Dex material in it (although I seem to recall much of the Sin/Dex that WASN'T part of Downlode Tales that's not been reprinted wasn't particularly great).

Mark, remember how they said "stay out of my way, mate" to each other?  Well they did.  The strip's title changed to Downlode Tales and followed both the mains and supporting characters until they sorted out Demi's Killer and re-established their friendship and partnership.  At which point the title changed back to Sin/Dex.  All of that was missing from Eurocrash.  Which is obvious when they seem to loathe each other one page, and are matey and congratulating each other on getting omerta for Demi the next.

Ennis' stuff gets a hard time to be honest, and it's not undeserved as his best Dredd isn't QUITE as good as his best stuff for other publishers.  He himself blames his youth and his inability to quite get over "I'M WRITING JUDGE DREDD".  When he's good though, and he's good quite often, he's very good indeed.

[I, Cosh]

Keep going I'd say. Ennis isn't as good as Wagner but there's still good and I want them to keep going indefinitely.

[Mark Taylor]

Mark, remember how they said "stay out of my way, mate" to each other?

Okay yeah I remember it now. It did seem a little jarring at the time but I guess I shrugged it off and kept reading. This was one of these stories I missed the first time around because I'd stopped reading 2000AD at the time.

It's not something I've really owned up to before, and I don't know why I feel like bringing it up right now, but my stopping reading had an awful lot to do with the fact that I'd just broken up somewhat messily with a long-term girlfriend at the time, who was a HUGE 2000AD fan (a bit unusual for one of the female persausion, I know). Anyway, we always used to read it together, every week, and somehow right after that reading it by myself would have been too painful a reminder.

Probably not the time or the place but just felt like getting it off my chest.  

[I, Cosh]

I sympathise. It's pretty stupid but, for a couple of years, I couldn't do the quiz in Saturday's Guardian for much the same reason. What a big sap.